


Heart of the Wild

by Crystalquill



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Fighting, Gen, Humans are technically Pokemon, Survival, Wild Pokemon, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 00:34:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30131295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crystalquill/pseuds/Crystalquill
Summary: A human wakes up injured in the middle of a forest, no idea how she got there or even who she is. Shortly after, she is adopted by a family of Ursarings and learns how to live and thrive in the wild.But, when her mother is caught by a trainer she embarks into a journey to get her back by any means necessary.Of course, things never turn out as planned. Watch out Pokemon world, you've got a force of nature in the body of a young girl coming for you!





	Heart of the Wild

**Author's Note:**

> This idea just spawned to life after thinking of a trainer fighting alongside their Pokemon and things just spiraled from there. Mostly, I asked myself the question "what is it that makes humans and Pokemon different?" and went from there. 
> 
> Well, welcome to the show!

She sways into a tree, stumbling into it and leaving the bloody impression of her hands behind. Metal taste is shoved into her mouth and she tries to spit it out, but her knees give out, sending her sprawling into the floor. 

Darkness overtakes her but she pushes it back, breathing through the screams of pain of her body. 

Everything becomes blurry, flashes of leaves and rocks entering and leaving her vision like ships in fog. Her teeth clack together. She’s so cold. 

It’s getting darker and darker and her sopping clothing still sticks to her body. She’s lost a shoe. She wants to cry and sleep. 

She’s running. From what she doesn’t know. 

She’s on the ground.

There’s a cave. 

It’s not much of a cave. It’s a hole in the side of a mound, partially covered by the roots of a tree. She crawls inside. 

* * *

The sound of chirping birds reaches into her mind and forces her to open her eyes. 

A headache assaults her and she groans, her vision going blurry with pain. Her mouth tastes of a strange combination of fruity and metallic, and her hands are sticky. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. 

A whimper draws her attention. 

The burrow she’s in is big enough to fit at least five of her, the ceiling supported by a collection of roots. The dirt ground is packed solidly, gouges here and there breaking up the dusty surface.

Curled up at the very end is a tiny creature.  _ Pokemon _ , her mind whispers. 

The Pokemon is a soft brown color, with dark eyes and a cute button nose. Two round, short ears sit at the top of their head, framing a patch of lighter fur that resembles a crescent moon. 

“Ted-Teddi?”

She blinks. 

“Is… this your home?” she asks.

The little bear-like Pokemon nods.

“Oh, no. Did I eat your berries?!?” she says and then winces as her head gives a stab of pain. “Ow…”

“Teddiursa?” the little Pokemon says, a worried tone entering its– his? Hers? Their? Their voice. “Urs Ted?

“I’m so sorry, I’ll– I’ll get some other ones!” With shaky limbs, she exits out the cave and the light stabs her eyes. When she finally stands in front of the cave, she realizes she’s in the middle of a lush green forest, the midday sun gently falling through the gaps in the leaves. 

She has no idea where she is. How did she get here? No time to think about that. She turns back around. 

“Umm, I’m sorry,” she says to the Teddiursa. “Could you point in the direction where the berries are?” 

The Teddiursa blinks and tilts their head, then cautiously walks out the cave, squeezing themself as far away from her as they can. Teddiursa walks in the grass, talking cautious steps, looking left and right, then looks back at her and motions with their head to follow her. 

She walks behind them, taking in the sounds of the forest, the soft murmur of leaves swaying, the dull roar of a nearby river. 

They end up on the foot of a tall tree, Sitrus berries dangling from the top. 

“So I have to climb?” she asks, eyeing the branches. They’re too far away for a Teddiursa, so maybe that’s why they took her to that specific tree? 

Teddiursa nods, but then tugs on her absolutely ruined pants and points towards something in the distance.

It takes her a few seconds of searching, but she eventually finds the flash of yellow, and large grey drills. A colony of Beedrill. She’ll have to be quiet if she doesn’t want to end up a pincushion.

She nods and climbs on the first branch. She winces as the bark bites into her feet, but the Oran berries must be still doing their thing and healing the wounds. Jeez, just how many berries did she eat?

Her hands burn from trying to grip the bark and her breath runs out in seconds. By the third branch another headache is blooming on her head but she owes the Teddiursa berries; that’s about all she knows. 

Her foot slips off the bark. She swallows a scream and on instinct leaps and grabs onto another nearby branch, dangling from it. She takes a few seconds the breathe in shuddering breaths before finding another foothold. 

She finds the first branch with fruit and doesn’t try going higher. She picks the fruit and lets it fall so Teddiursa can catch it. Most of them miss their mark. 

When the branch is devoid of berries, she starts her descent, her feet and hands full of splinters. Faint buzzing begins to be heard and she panics. She needs to get  _ out. _

The branch she’s holding snaps. She falls and screams, landing on her back with a thud that wrenches all air from her lungs. 

The buzzing turns frantic. 

She rolls to the side, coughing, trying to get back the air she lost. 

Teddiursa cries out and begins tugging her, trying to get her back up her feet. She gets up painfully slowly before she starts running behind Teddiursa.

“BEEDRILLLLL!”

She glances back, one lone Beedrill shouting out, before responding shouts rise from behind the trees. 

Teddiursa begins to lag behind, their front paws full of Sitrus berries forcing them to waddle on their two hind legs. She scoops Teddiursa up into her arms and sets off into the forest. 

She runs with all her strength, her arms aching from the climb and threatening to drop Teddiursa. Her throat is raw and on fire from her harsh breaths, but still, she keeps running, trees speeding past her and blurring at her back. 

But the buzzing still keeps getting louder. 

Something metallic speeds off inches from her face and she flinches, watching as the projectile keeps going and spears a tree straight through. Soon, as she runs more and more metal drills are shot off towards her. 

And then she steps on something sharp which pierces into her foot and she stumbles. She lands painfully on her side, scraping her entire right arm raw and she screams. She props herself up and looks back. The Beedrill are getting closer. 

“TEDDIURSA! TEED!” screams Teddiursa in her arms, shivering with panic. “URSA!”

In a split-second decision, she hugs Teddiursa tightly and bends over, using her body as a shield.

Something roars in front of them. She looks up.

An Ursaring ROARS, barreling towards them on four paws, toothy maw dripping with spit, hate leaking out into the air and she is frozen. She closes her eyes, not wanting to stare death in the face.

The Beedrill flee behind them, the buzzing growing fainter with every new growl.

Silence reigns. She cracks her eyes open. Teddiursa wriggles out of her arms

“Teddiursa!” 

The Ursaring has stopped in its tracks, scowling at the Teddiursa standing between like a little wall. 

The Teddiursa starts talking to the Ursaring, who responds and starts arguing back. She stares frozen, at a loss of what to do as the argument gets louder and louder. 

The Ursaring narrows its eyes further and walks until she’s looking eye to eye at it. The Ursaring then huffs right into her face and turns around. Teddiursa tries to climb onto the Ursaring’s back, their arms still clutching berries. 

She tries to stand, careful to not put too much pressure on her wounded foot and wobbles over to Teddiursa. With a little bit of effort, she helps the Teddiursa onto the Ursaring’s back. 

The Ursaring is staring right into her face. 

She gulps.

The Ursaring starts walking. 

She stands still for a few seconds, now struck with the realization that she doesn’t know what to do. It’s the first time in her life that she doesn’t have an objective, now that the berries have been gathered. She has the nagging feeling that there should be more to her life than that, but… it’s just blank. 

So she follows Teddiursa and Ursaring, the only two creatures that didn’t attack her in the forest.

The three of them come back to the cave under the tree roots. Teddiursa jumps off Ursaring’s back and then says “Ursa!” back at her. 

She assumes Teddiursa is trying to get her to follow so she enters the hollow despite Ursaring’s dirty looks.

Teddiursa sets the surviving five berries down in a corner and happily begins munching on one of them, before stopping and clutching one in their paw and presenting it to her. 

She takes it. The burst of flavor is refreshing on her tongue, the best thing she’s ever tasted. She smiles. 

“Thank you!”

Teddiursa gurgles happily and finishes their berry in a few bites. “Ted! Teddiursa, Ursa Ted!”

She tilts her head to the side. “I… have no idea what you just said.”

Teddiursa pouts, before he repeats “Ted! Teddiursa, Ursa Ted!” Seeing her blank look, Teddiursa switches tactics.

“Ursa Ted,” they say pointing at themselves. Then they point at her and ask, “Ted?”

She frowns for a few seconds, thinking before it clicks. “Are you asking what my name is?”

This earns her a happy cheer and she smiles. Then she opens her mouth and freezes in place. “I… I don’t remember.”

Her eyes widen, looking in slowly-dawning horror as she wracks her mind and finds nothing. “I should have a name, right? Why– why can’t I remember it?!? What else have I forgotten?!?”

Teddiursa startles, steeping sharply back.

“I’m- I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you, I’m-“

With a careful gesture, Teddiursa sets one paw on her leg. He looks up with scared and worried eyes, and she breaks.

Tears slip from her face and she crumbles, drawing Teddiursa into a hug. She sobs into his fur as he nuzzles into her neck, cooing comfortingly. 

A grumble makes her snap to attention and she raises her head to see the Ursaring, who is staring at her with a guarded expression. 

Then, the Ursaring picks up a Sitrus berry and sets it in front of her. 

She lets Teddiursa down, sobs still wracking her body, trying to wipe her eyes so she can see the berry through her blurriness. She picks it up.

Ursaring points at the berry and with a sharp gesture then points at her. 

“Sitrus? Is that my name?” she asks. 

The Ursaring tilts its head. 

“Sitrus,” she mumbles, feeling out the syllables. “Sitrus… my name is Sitrus.”

The Ursaring lets out an amused, small smile.

“Sitrus! That’s me!”

Teddiursa cheers and tackle-hugs Sitrus, almost sending them to the floor. “You pack a punch for someone so small!”

Apparently, Teddiursa takes offense to that and playfully strikes out at Sitrus. She responds in kind by lightly shoving Teddiursa aside. 

Soon it turns into a play-fight, both of them tussling in the small cave while Ursaring watches, an indulgent smile upon her face. The tiredness of the day soon catches upon them, however, and it only takes a little break, called by both cheerful combatants, for both of them to lay down and accidentally fall asleep, curled up against each other.

* * *

**_Three months later_ **

Sitrus woke up by getting a fistful of leaves thrown at her face. 

“ _ Wake up!” _ shrieked Crescent, jumping on top of Sitrus’ back. “ _ The food is ready!” _

“Urgh,” Sitrus complained, rolling to her side so the Teddiursa would get off her. “ _ I am awake. Please stop the noise.” _

“ _ Hurry uuuuuuup!”  _ Crescent says, slapping his paws on her shoulder before running out of the cave. 

Sitrus follows him, crawling out while she yawns. She stands up, shaking the dust from her inner clothes before picking up her jacket and shrugging it on. Her clothes, which were still the ones she had been wearing as far as she remembered, were nothing more than tatters at this point. It was still the end of summer so it wasn’t that much of an issue, but as soon as fall came around that would change quickly. 

Shaking that train of thought out of her head, Sitrus walked towards Honey, who was patiently stopping Crescent from devouring the pile of berries in front of them. 

“What have we got?” said Sitrus, plopping herself down next to the pile of berries. Spotting Honey’s warning look, Sitrus switches back to Poke-speech. “ _ What’s for lunch?” _

With a satisfied look on her muzzle, Honey lifts her paw from her cub’s head, allowing him to chow down on the berries. “ _ A few Oran berries, some Sitrus, but most are Bluk berries.”  _ The Ursaring then picks up a berry herself and pops it into her mouth. “ _ How was your nap? Does your head still hurt?” _

_ “My sleep was good,” _ Sitrus answers, picking up her name-sake berries so Crescent wouldn’t eat them. Those were her favorites after all. “ _ Thank you for the time. My head is good now.” _

_ “That is a relief to hear,”  _ says Honey, “ _ The Pidgeotto family sends their regards, by the way.” _

_ “Sends their regards?”  _ asks Sitrus, tilting her head to the side. Her tangled brown hair gets in her face and she bats it away with a hand, glaring when it swings back to get stuck on her mouth..

“ _ Says hello to you, _ ” clarifies Honey, before humming consideringly (which, to someone who doesn’t know Honey very well, would sound like a low growl.) “ _ Your fur seems to be growing too long. We might have to cut it.” _

_ “Cut my fur?”  _ repeats Sitrus, inspecting her hair. It had always been longer than her shoulders, being a nuisance by tangling itself in branches and becoming a dirty bird’s nest. “ _ Sure.” _

Honey moves to stand behind Sitrus, before warning: “ _ Please stay very still.” _

From the corner of her eye, Sitrus watches as Honey takes a lock of her hair with one paw, the claws on her other paw starting to gleam with energy. Honey slashes through the lock of hair easily, letting it fall to the ground. Satisfied with the result, Honey takes a bigger clump of hair, this time much closer to the root, and begins slashing away.

“ _ Hey Sitrus!”  _ says Teddiursa, picking up another berry. “ _ You still haven’t guessed today’s word!” _

Sitrus huffs, taking another bite of her berry before saying: ” _ Cave?” _

_ “Nope!”  _ giggles Teddiursa. “ _ Also you already asked that one this morning.” _

“ _ Tree-top? Sunrise?”  _ offers Sitrus, wracking her brain for new words she had learned. “Damn, this is difficult. Uuuuh,  _ Scahvenger? _

_ “Scavenger,”  _ corrects Crescent. “ _ And nope!” _

“ _ Scahvenger,”  _ tries Sitrus, frowning when the sound doesn’t come out right. “ _ Sca–ven–ger. Scah– Scavenger. Scahvenger.” _

“ _ You shtill shpeak weird,”  _ says Crescent, through a mouthful of food. He then gulps the berries down at Sitrus’ miffed look and Honey’s disapproving scowl.

“ _ Crescent _ ,  _ be nice to your sister,”  _ scolds Honey, before huffing and standing up. “ _ Well, that should do it. How does it feel, Sitrus?” _

She shakes her head a bit, her eyebrows rising with surprise at how much lighter her head feels. “ _ Very good! Thank you!” _

“ _ Now, Sitrus, could you please take your brother to the river?”  _ asks Honey, looking at her cub with a sigh. “ _ He needs a bath.” _

_ “Noooooooo,”  _ whines Crescent, tumbling backward so he can wave his paws around in protest. “ _ I don’t want a bath! It’s too cold!” _

_ “Learn to eat without mess,”  _ teases Sitrus, finishing her last berry before standing up. “ _ Maybe Buster will be there?” _

“ _ Urgh, fine,”  _ relents Crescent. “ _ But you have to carry me there!” _

_ “I’ll get stronger than you if I carry you a lot,”  _ says Sitrus, kneeling down so Crescent can climb on her back. Once he’s there, she rises back to her feet. “ _ I’ll be going now mom, see you again before sunset.” _

_ “Be careful,”  _ says Honey, walking back home, entering the cave. ‘To take a nap,’ guesses Sitrus. 

She begins walking towards the river, chatting with Crescent about the weather and how long the berries will last, if their friends will still be in the pond… It’s these simple moments in the calm of the forest that Sitrus lives for, feeling the grass in her bare feet, the afternoon sun on her skin and the satisfying muscle burn of holding Crescent’s weight. 

The quiet murmur of the river, soothing in its own way, soon comes into focus. Sitrus gets an idea. She calmly walks towards the river. 

“ _ Hey, come over here _ ,” says Sitrus, gesturing to Crescent so he would climb from her back to her shoulder, so she could pick him up and hug him. She then grins mischievously. “Payback!”

“ _ What? Uh– SITRUS DON’T YOU DARE–” _

Sitrus gleefully swings Crescent into the river.

“ _ That is for the leaves of this morning!” _ crows Sitrus doing a little victory dance in Crescent’s direction. 

“ _ YOU’RE A MEANIE!”  _ says Crescent, tears beginning to leak out of his eyes. 

“ _ Fake Tears won’t work on me!” _ says Sitrus, sticking her tongue out.

Crescent stops his tears and sticks his tongue out in response. 

Sitrus sits down at the edge of the river and dips her feet in, as Crescent grumbles to himself and begins washing his fur. 

“ _ Hey! Nice to see you both again” _ Buster the Buneary bounces out of the forest, her one unrolled ear flitting about in happiness. “ _ You still haven’t given me my rematch!” _

_ “Buster, we’re supposed to be back home before sundown,”  _ sighs Sitrus. “ _ You know that if we start fighting you’ll keep calling for a rematch over and over again.” _

“ _ Scared?” grins Buster, _ stomping with one of her paws on the ground, kicking up a small dust cloud _. “Worried you’ll be too frail to take a hit, human?” _

_ “Hey!”  _ says Crescent, bursting out the river and splashing everywhere. “ _ My sister is not weak!” _

_ “Then prove it!” _

“ _ You know what?”  _ says Sitrus, standing up with a faux-angry expression. “ _ You’re on.” _

Buster doesn’t waste time and shoots off towards Sitrus, releasing her curled up ear in Pound attack. 

Sitrus grins, leaping to the side to avoid Buster’s attack and lashing out with her leg in a kick. Buster is too fast to get caught so she jumps to the side, her eyes shining with pink fairy energy. 

Sitrus blinks, Buster’s Baby-Doll Eyes leeching the wish to fight from her, but she then shakes her head and reaches to her jacket pocket and throws a rock at Buster. With a Defense Curl, the rock bounces off harmlessly on the blue-energy defensively coated fur.

While Buster is busy with Defense Curl, Sitrus runs over to a nearby tree and snaps a branch off. She turns around just in time to see Buster running at her full speed and she swings, batting the little Pokemon away. 

“ _ Oww,” _ says Buster, standing back up. “ _ Good hit!” _

“ _ Thanks!”  _ says Sitrus, taking out another rock out of her pocket and throwing it with deadly accuracy. 

Another Defense Curl from Buster takes care of that rock too, but it gives Sitrus the time to get closer and swing the branch down while Buster is still concentrating. Buster is expecting it, jumping to the side and then using the branch as a ramp. Buster lets loose a Pound straight at Sitrus’ face.

“FUCK!” screams Sitrus as the punch impacts her face straight on. Her eyes water at the pain in her nose, blood starting to gush from it. “ _ You win. Ow.” _

“ _ Wooo!”  _ cheers Buster, jumping up and down on one leg. “ _ Did you see that Crescent _ ?  _ Wasn’t I awesome?” _

_ “Yeah you were!”  _ he answers, running up to both of them. “ _ Jumping on the branch looked so cool! Sitrus, are you okay?” _

“ _ It hurts,”  _ says Sitrus, trying to keep the blood from dripping on her clothes. “ _ I am not a Pokemon. I don’t cure fast.” _

“ _ Crap, uuuh, I’ll go see if there are any berries near!” _ says Teddirusa, running away at full speed. 

“ _ I still want a rematch,”  _ says Buster, grumbling. “ _ You’re still ahead of me by twelve victories.” _

“ _ Buster, I’m not going to fight you injured,”  _ states Sitrus. “ _ Find another way to win my brother’s love.” _

“ _ Wh–what are you talking about?!? I’m not trying to– He’s not–” splutters Buster. _

_ “Sure,” _ says Sitrus, rolling her eyes at Buster’s obvious puppy crush.

“ _ HEY! YOU GUYS NEED TO SEE THIS!”  _

Buster and Sitrus glance at each other before running to whatever Crescent found. Trying to run with a nosebleed? Not recommended. Sitrus dreads trying to scrub the blood out of her clothes.

They find Crescent in the middle of a secluded clearing, tugging what looks to be a bunch of cloth and sticks. 

“ _ Look! Human stuff!”  _ says Crescent scampering off to show off a metal rod he’d found.

“ _ It looks old _ ,” says Buster, rustling through the grass to come up with a piece of metal. 

“ _ Hey, what is this?”  _ asks Crescent, dragging another dirty bundle of cloth, this one with something inside.

The name of the object escapes Sitrus, but as soon as Crescent drops the object in her lap, muscle memory takes over. Sitrus unzips the backpack, an action which draws the attention of the two other Pokemon, and dumps all of its contents on the ground. Colorful bottles and items tumble out. 

“ _ I… I think this is a Potion,”  _ says Sitrus, taking the colored bottle into her hands. “ _ It heals like a berry but better. That is… a  _ badge case _? I can remember the name, but I can’t remember what it’s for. That’s cutlery. You eat with it, can’t remember why. I can’t remember what it’s called, but with this you can write. I don’t recognize the rest.” _

_ “What about the ones that look like a Potion but in different colors?”  _ asks Crescent. 

_ “And this shiny red thing?” _

_ “And this ball? It looks like a Voltorb!” _

_ “And all this cloth? It smells funky.” _

_ “I really don’t know!”  _ snaps Sitrus, looking at all the things she doesn’t recognize.

_ “... Sorry,”  _ apologized both of them.

“ _ It’s okay,”  _ says Sitrus, taking the backpack, filling it with the Potion-looking stuff and leaving the rest behind. “ _ I’m just… too full of the things I don’t know?” _

_ “Do you mean overwhelmed?”  _ says Teddirusa, a teasing grin on his face.

“ _ Yeah. That,” _ sighs Sitrus. “ _ Well, I have no idea what the cloth bundle is, but I’m taking it!” _

The cloth bundle is made of sturdy-looking cloth out of a weird material, flexible metal sticks running through hoops in it, with a few cords mixed in. Sitrus manages to open it to find softer cloth bundled up inside, and its amazingly dry. 

Sitrus grins with excitement. She’s just found the perfect material to make new clothes with! She even has a cord to hold it together! Now winter won’t be that much of a problem and she’ll stop worrying mom about that! Especially since… yup; she forgot about her nosebleed, which seems to have stopped but now there’s just a mess of blood on her. Oops.

“ _ There’s one more thing I found!”  _ says Crescent, running off to the side. He then painstakingly drags a bright yellow hunk of metal, that has a big yellow see through dome on it and inside–

“ _ Is that an egg?!?”  _ gapes Buster. “ _ Why is there an egg in there?!?” _

_ “... Don’t look at me! I don’t know this one either!”  _ Sitrus, gaping at the strange contraption and at the colorful Pokemon egg inside.

“ _ We need to take that egg out of there!”  _ says Buster with fierce determination.

_ “Careful though,”  _ remarks Sitrus, looking at the thing with a critical eye. “ _ We don’t want to crack the egg by accident.” _

Both of them nod. Crescent begins Scratching the yellow dome, not doing much other than make a horrible sound with his claws. Buster just stares at the thing with hatred. She doesn’t know any moves that were precise enough not to crack the egg.

_ “This is not working,”  _ mutters Sitrus. She picks up the contraption, tilting it around to see if it has any weak points, when she accidentally presses down on something. 

The yellow dome covering the egg retracts with a  _ shink! _ and it’s only Buster’s quick reflexes that stop the egg from rolling off and cracking against the ground.

“ _ That was too close,”  _ wheezes Sitrus, a hand on her chest. 

“ _ We did it though!”  _ cheers Crescent. “ _ Now what do we do with it?”  _

The three of them look at the egg. The egg doesn’t look back.

“ _ I can’t take it,”  _ says Buster, frowning. “ _ Dad already has trouble feeding all of us with his injury.” _

_ “I guess we can take it?” _ says Sitrus. “ _ It’s only us two with mom, and I help with getting food.” _

_ “It’s decided,”  _ nods Buster, holding out the egg to Sitrus who takes it with extreme care.

“ _ I’m getting a little sibling?!?”  _ says Crescent, excitement sparkling in his eyes.

“ _ Don’t get your hopes up!”  _ chastises Sitrus. “ _ We don’t know if the egg is alright, it could be dead for all we know!” _

_ “I’m getting a little sibling!”  _ shouts Crescent, flailing his arms around. 

Sitrus facepalms.

“ _ It’s getting late,” _ says Buster. “ _ I should get home.” _

Sitrus checks the sky. She swears quietly once she sees the sky tinted orange. “ _ We should already be home! Get on my back you pest!” _

_ “Hey, don’t call me a pest!”  _ protests Crescent, bonking Sitrus on the head once he’s clinging to her back. “ _ Bye Buster!” _

_ “Bye-bye, both of you!”  _ shouts Buster, turning around and hopping away at full speed. 

Sitrus thinks about going full-speed too, but one look at the fragile egg in her arm convinces her otherwise. 

Shadows slowly lengthen as Sitrus walks, Crescent cracking comments and jokes here and there. She doesn’t pay him much attention, because she’s busy scanning the forest, watching out for any starving Pokemon that might decide that Crescent or the egg look like tasty meals. There’s still berries in the trees and it isn’t winter yet, so it isn’t likely but you can never be too careful. 

It’s night when Sitrus sees the top of their tree, but she still sighs with relief. 

_ “Where have both of you been?!?”  _

Crescent and Sitrus freeze. Standing beside the entrance to their cave is their mother, a growl low in her throat. 

“ _ I’ve been expecting you since before the sun set and– is that an egg? Sitrus, is that blood?!?” _

All anger melts out of Honey’s face, racing towards them to check at their injuries with concern written on her face.

“ _ No, mom. Buster just got a good hit in one of our fights,”  _ says Sitrus, grimacing while Honey gently touches her claws to her nose.  _ “And then we found some human stuff and–” _

_ “Hey, I found it!”  _ protests Crescent.

“ _ And why did you find it?”  _ says Honey with a warning in her voice.

_ “I… uh.” _

_ “How many times do I have to tell you that humans are DANGEROUS?!?”  _ roars Honey. “ _ What if there had been a human nearby and it had caught you?!?” _

_ “But there wasn’t–”  _

_ “And you, Sitrus!”  _ Honey said, whirling around to face her eldest child. “ _ Why did you let your brother get close to humans?!?” _

_ “The stuff looked old!”  _ protested Sitrus, squaring up her shoulders. “ _ And besides, what’s so bad about–” _

A light washed over them, and all three of them jumped. Sitrus looked down to see the egg in her arms softly pulsating with light.

“ _ We’ll talk about this later,”  _ said Honey, looking at the egg. “ _ Get into the burrow, the egg is hatching and we need to take care of it.” _

Sitrus and Crescent don’t bother responding, both of them sprinting inside the burrow. The egg is wiggling now, small cracks appearing on its surface. 

“ _ Lay it on the ground,” _ instructs Honey, curling on the ground so that her body obstructs the entrance of the burrow. “ _ Now it’s up to the little one.” _

Sitrus watches with fascination as more and more cracks appear on the eggs surface, the light escaping through them with more intensity. A tiny hand, glowing, bursts through the shell. The egg cracks in half, falling away. The light gets brighter, so bright Sitrus flinches her eyes closed but forces them open a second later. She will not miss this. 

The glow gently fades. Sitting in between eggshells is a tiny Pokemon, a delicate yellow like a sunrise, eyes and mouth peeking from an eggshell-looking carapace. 

“ _ A Togepi,”  _ says Honey, gently shuffling to pick the baby up, wrapping it up in her arms as it gurgles. “ _ One day, he will grow to fly the skies as a Togekiss. But for now, Sitrus, will you pass me a berry?” _

Sitrus nods and crawls towards the little hole they keep their snacks in and carefully selects the most juicy-looking, sweetest berry. 

“ _ Wooooah,” _ says Crescent, clambering over his mother’s arm to get a good look. “ _ Hello little brother, you look so cool!” _

Togepi answers by babbling and extending a tiny hand towards Crescent, who takes it.

“ _ You’re my favorite sibling,”  _ declares Crescent, a look of gentle fondness in his eyes.

“ _ I take offense to that,”  _ responds Sitrus, flicking her brother's forehead and ignoring his yelp of pain while she extends the berry to their mother. 

Honey takes the berry and gently smushes it in her paw, scooping small bits with her claws and feeding it to Togepi, who eats it. Well, tries to eat it. Half of each scoop ends up smeared all over his mouth. 

“ _ What are we going to name him?”  _ asks Crescent, excitedly bouncing on his two hind legs. “ _ He could be Meteor! Or Slasher! Oooooh, you know which name would be super cool? Destroyer!” _

_ “We are not naming him Destroyer,”  _ deadpans Sitrus.

“ _ Then what do you wanna name her?”  _ says Crescent, crossing his paws over his chest and baring his teeth.

“ _ Anything other than that”  _ snaps back Sitrus. 

_ “Children!”  _ hisses Honey. “ _ No fighting.” _

That’s when Sitrus notices that Togepi’s face is scrunched up, his tiny lip trembling.

“ _ I’m sorry! Please don’t cry,”  _ pleads Crescent, leaning over to nuzzle Togepi.  _ “We won’t fight anymore.” _

Togepi slowly calms down, and then a big yawn overtakes him. Sitrus is going to melt from the cuteness, she just knows it. 

“ _ Sitrus,”  _ says Honey, snapping Sitrus out of her reverie. “ _ What would you name him?” _

Sitrus looks at Togepi’s drooping eyes, slowly falling asleep against his mother’s chest. Moonlight makes Togepi’s shell shine brightly, almost like a second moon. 

“ _ Luna,” _ says Sitrus, almost without realizing. “ _ It’s a human name, but it means ‘moon’. That way he would have a human name, like me, but would also be named after the moon, like Crescent.” _

“ _ It doesn’t sound as cool as Destroyer,”  _ says Crescent, looking at Sitrus with a fake considering look. “ _ But I guess it fits!” _

“ _ Yes, it does,”  _ quietly says Honey, looking at Sitrus with pride in her eyes. 

Luna loses the battle against Crescelia’s pull, snuggling into his mothers arms, his eyes falling shut. Within seconds, he’s peacefully asleep.


End file.
